“THE WORD OF THE LORD”
Saint Matthew 4: 1-11
Invocavit: 18 February Anno Domini 2018
Father Jay Watson SSP
Adam and his wife could not just “call upon The Lord” but could walk and talk with Him—in sweet Edenic communion; before the fall. They “saw” God and it was very good. Man fell into sin and sin lead to death—death for all of you—and death lead to decay…and hell for the unregenerate. But…
The Word of the Lord endureth forever!
You just confessed that you believe in an Almighty “Maker” God Who made heaven and earth and “of all things visible and invisible.” You believe in angels. You believe in demons. You believe in the existence and anti-works of Satan. Good. Because if you know your enemy than he can be defeated. Oh, not by you. The Word of the Lord endureth forever.
Jesus says to you who: you who run away; who give in at the drop of a…a setback/pain/thwarting of your desire & will; who throw a sin-tantrum whenever you’re not in charge; who actually cooperate with devilish and impious “dirty deeds done dirt cheap;” Jesus says to “that” you: “I will deliver…I will honor…with long life will I satisfy…and show My Salvation.”
Your “doing” something to fight Satan is both dangerous and dooming. Jesus does. Rather, be with Jesus by Grace through His delivered Holy Ghost-gift of faith. Reside in His Word and His Sacraments. Live the Life He lives in you! Saint Matthew’s account of the wilderness war is not meant to be replicated by your own manly and muscular and heroic, and solo combat. You may think you are brave and noble Hector…but such thinking will have the rage of Achilles/Satan chopping you apart and lashing you to his Hades going chariot—to not just the “underworld,” but to perdition. It’s Satan we’re talking about: “on earth is not his equal.” But your Valiant One “holds the field” because he held the wilderness desert: The Word of The Lord endureth forever!
So, let the Spirit through The Word cause you to dwell in the secret place of the Most High—Jesus’ Word; Jesus’ Body and Blood; “under the shadow of The Almighty.” You are “in” Christ in your Holy + Washing. You are “in” your warrior-king “in” your membership of His Church. You are “in” The One Who fights “for you” “in” His Body and Blood being in you!
You should not go looking for dragons, or serpents, to kill. You’ve got your own “old Adam” to drown daily. How’s that going? The Lord was no grand-standing spotlight seeker, “Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness.” You too have your vocation and place…as well as your Mighty Fortress. Be loyal where you are and value/appreciate your home.
You too will be tried by the world and your flesh, and you will be tempted by both Satan and your sinful nature. You too will be lonely, cold, thirsty, and oh-so hungry…that you just can’t go on. And then Satan will come to you with his lies, misquotes, slanders, and accusations. He will come with false miracles and promises of glory.
Satan is correct. The Christ can turn stones on the ground into freshly baked, slathered in butter, “melt-in-your-mouth” bread. The Logos also made Satan, originally a good angel out of nothing. It is an abomination for the creature to presuppose it can tell the Creator what to do. Jesus did not respond with a miracle, power, glory, or razzle-dazzle. The Word of God, in the The Flesh—in His humility of refraining from full use of His Divinity, lived and was sustained by The Word. He spoke not proverbs, witticisms, or imprecations, but rather quoted Himself from Deuteronomy 8.3.
You do not need wealth and a mountain of mammon/stuff so to live in ease or to have the ability to never be hungry or without. You can and do “fast” from victuals, because you live and thrive by “eating” that which proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
Satan is correct. The Lord caused David to “spake by the Holy Ghost” in Psalm 91 that the Messias would be “charged over” and “borne up” by angelic spirit hands lest He should dash His foot against a stone…before the time! The time for The Lord’s feet to be damaged, for His heal to be speared, spiked, nailed, indeed—bitten by the deadly tempter snake would not be until Calvary—not this day, which Matthew records, these 40 days of fixing Eve’s sin…of fixing The Children of Israel’s 40-year desert sin. Jesus does not get into an exegetical or theological disputation with the “bent one” but quotes Himself again from the Torah—His Word recorded by Moses.
So too with the last temptation as well.
Jesus The Incarnate Word lives by The Word of The Lord, His Words, The Words of The Blessed Trinity, The Logos’—Second Person of The Godhead’s Person and Work: Savior/Saving!
Relying on your own actions and perceived “good works” will get you gutted and gobbled up by the dragon. Resting secure in The Word of The Lord will cause the cowardly imp to flee in defeat and terror…for he knows his time is short.
Enough “sermonating.” Be Jesused by Jesus; be worded by The Word; be loosed by The Loosing One: “get thee hence Satan!” This flock is faithful in the Worship of God—They are served by Jesus; their sins are remitted. As the angels of God came to minister to The Nazarene—to give Him to drink and eat in the desert beyond Jordan, so too now do Thy Servants give this family to eat and to drink: The WORD OF THE LORD.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of The Holy Ghost
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